The Next Psychedelic You Take Hasn’t Been Invented Yet
Welcome to the Psychedelic Blog. I write about the Impact of Psychedelics on Grieving, Relationships, Culture & Death. This week, I'm exploring how AI will revolutionize the future of Psychedelics—ushering in a new era of personalized compounds designed specifically for your brain.
“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” — Aldous Huxley (Brave New World)
I. A Personal Awakening
On an April night in 2020, my then-girlfriend introduced me to MDMA.
Unlike the ecstasy I did in college, this experience was profoundly different. It unlocked something within me—quieting my inner monologue, opening my heart, and allowing me to feel in ways I hadn't before. I still experience flashbacks to that evening…it was that powerful & transformative.
It was as if MDMA had tapped into my unique neurobiology, revealing a version of myself I didn't know existed.
II. From Serendipity to Specificity
Historically, finding the right Psychedelic has been a game of chance. A mushroom at a festival. A capsule from a friend. A feeling that maybe this one will work.
But that era is ending.
Thanks to advancements in receptor mapping, neuroimaging, and machine learning, we're entering an age of designer molecules—customized for your brain, your emotional history, your metabolism.
No more one-size-fits-all. No more guesswork.
Instead of stumbling on a substance that happens to resonate, AI can now predict which compound is most likely to catalyze the outcome you seek—whether it's connection, clarity, or catharsis.
The future isn’t about stronger drugs. It’s about smarter ones.
III. A Brief History of Psychedelic Discovery
For most of human history, our relationship with Psychedelics has been intuitive, accidental, or guided by cultural traditions. Albert Hofmann famously discovered LSD's effects after absorbing it through his fingertips. He would later say:
“I did not choose LSD; LSD found me.”
The theme of the medicine finding the seeker echoes across cultures:
The Mazatec people of Oaxaca used Psilocybin-containing mushrooms in healing rituals long before Westerners “discovered” them.
Native American tribes in the Southwest & Northern Mexico communed with the divine through Peyote ceremonies, a practice that dates back thousands of years.
In the Amazon, Shamans combined Banisteriopsis caapi & Psychotria viridis to brew Ayahuasca, a pharmacological feat achieved not by lab equipment but by generations of intuitive experimentation.
The Vikings are believed to have consumed Amanita Muscaria Mushrooms before battle, entering trance-like states of violence & rage—what we now associate with the word “berserk,” derived from the legendary Berserker warriors.
In Africa, tribes like the Bwiti used Iboga in initiation rites, unlocking dreamlike states to gain insight & guidance.
Meanwhile, many of us—myself included—first encountered substances like MDMA by chance at a show or with a partner.
Psychedelics have rarely been discovered by design. Instead, they've emerged through accident, intuition, or the inherited wisdom of tradition.
IV. AI: The New Alchemist
The next Psychedelic revolution won’t be brewed in a jungle—it’ll be simulated by code.
Using tools like DeepMind’s AlphaFold, researchers are now designing molecules that bind to brain receptors like keys in locks—some mimicking serotonin, others modulating perception, memory, or emotional openness. What once took years of lab work now happens in hours of computation.
AI isn't just discovering new compounds. It's remixing them for modern dilemmas:
For Couples – MDMA-like analogues to dissolve resentment & rediscover intimacy.
For Workaholics – Psilocybin variants that quiet achievement-addiction & amplify joy.
For Alcoholics – Molecules that soothe the nervous system, not sabotage it.
For Tech Addicts – Molecules that make your phone feel irrelevant.
For Parents – Microdoses that bring back awe & wonder, not caffeine-powered survival or alcohol-fueled numbing.
These aren’t future fantasies. They’re early-stage prototypes being modeled today.
V. How AlphaFold Actually Works (Without Getting Too Technical)
Think of it this way: every emotion or altered state you feel on Psychedelics stems from how a compound interacts with your brain's receptors—those intricate proteins folded in complex shapes. Predicting how a molecule fits into these shapes used to be a laborious process. AlphaFold can now simulate protein folding with astonishing accuracy, allowing researchers to test how potential compounds "dock" with receptors linked to mood, memory, and perception—all digitally.
It’s like having a molecular matchmaking service running at hyperspeed.
By simulating how these molecules interact with brain receptors associated with mood & perception, scientists can now predict which compounds might be most effective for individual neurobiological profiles.
VI. A Future Within Reach
This technological leap means that, in the near future, AI will analyze your biometric data, cognitive patterns, and emotional history to design a psychoactive compound tailored specifically to your neurochemistry. Imagine a molecular profile as unique as your fingerprint—matched to a custom compound designed to shift your state of consciousness with precision & intent.
These bespoke Psychedelics wouldn’t just replicate the effects of Psilocybin, LSD, or MDMA—they’d refine them. Mood elevation without the crash. Insight without the chaos. Connection without the comedown. All synthesized in silico, not through years of pharmaceutical guesswork, but through rapid simulations & targeted design.
The era of one-size-fits-all is fading. In its place: personalized compounds that are safer, faster-acting, and legally compliant. Your next journey might not come from a mushroom or a molecule pulled off the shelf, but one engineered just for you.
VII. Real-World Use Cases Are Closer Than You Think
Imagine it’s 2030. You walk into a licensed Psychedelic clinic. A non-invasive scan reads your biometrics & emotional profile. Within minutes, an AI generates a shortlist of compounds tailored to your nervous system.
No generic Psilocybin. No mystery doses. Just precision medicine for the mind.
Companies are already laying the groundwork:
Mindstate Design Labs is modeling compounds for targeted receptor effects.
Entheo Digital blends VR with Psychedelics for immersive, intention-aligned protocols.
Delix Therapeutics is building non-hallucinogenic psychoplastogens for those who want neural growth without the trip.
The scaffolding is here. We’re just waiting for the elevator to arrive.
VIII. The Challenges: Ethics, Regulation, and the Human Soul
But this isn’t just a technological revolution—it’s a philosophical one.
Who owns your personalized compound?
Will access be equitable—or only available to those who can afford it?
What happens to the cultural, ceremonial, or spiritual aspects of Psychedelics when the experience is algorithmically optimized?
In our rush to eliminate uncertainty, we risk amputating the soul of the Psychedelic experience—treating it like a malfunction to fix instead of a mystery to respect.
We already live in a culture addicted to comfort—I wrote more about that here.
Now imagine that same obsession dictating how we alter consciousness: no discomfort, no darkness—just streamlined transcendence on demand.
But real transcendence costs something. It challenges you. Humbles you. Sometimes it breaks you. Some of us need to be broken.
Yes, these new tools could be life-changing for people with manic episodes or preexisting cardiovascular issues—offering altered states with fewer risks.
But what about everyone else?
Will they still be allowed to struggle? To sweat? To cry into the dirt? Or will we engineer the awe right out of it?
IX. The Role of Set & Setting in a Personalized Future
Even with a molecule engineered just for you, the context in which it’s taken still matters. Psychedelics are amplifiers. The best-designed compound in the world can backfire in the wrong setting, with the wrong intention, or under the wrong guide.
Could AI one day optimize that, too? Imagine an experience paired with personalized music, scents, visual landscapes, and even guide recommendations—all tuned to your nervous system & psychological needs.
It’s not far off.
X. Conclusion: The Promise & Peril of Personalized Psychedelics
My serendipitous encounter with MDMA in 2020 opened a door to self-discovery. Soon, transformative experiences like that may no longer rely on chance.
With AI at the helm, we’re entering an era where the right compound finds you. Where a tailored Psychedelic, designed for your mind and your moment, can deliver healing, clarity, or connection with surgical precision.
But we have a role to play in how this future unfolds.
Will the Psychedelic renaissance be shaped solely by technologists & biotech firms? Or will it be guided by those who understand these substances as something more than tools—something sacred, ineffable, and deeply human?
We already live in a culture obsessed with optimization, ease, and comfort. The temptation will be to engineer spiritual breakthroughs—to strip them of risk, effort, and surprise. But if we sterilize the mystery, we may lose the very thing that makes it sacred.
And that’s the point.
Huxley’s words ring louder than ever:
“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
Psychedelics have always offered those things—not as a product, but as a process.
Let’s make sure we don’t trade the mystery for the menu.
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Really appreciated this take—especially the tension you highlight between optimization and mystery. The idea that AI can personalize a compound and curate the full set/setting experience is both exciting and a little unsettling. Feels like we’re approaching a turning point where the psychedelic journey becomes engineered instead of discovered. Thanks for articulating that so clearly.
I have a strong belief that citizenship has many dimensions. Our constitutional citizenship grants us the right to free speech and our bodies among other things. But, it falls short on other areas - specifically “state of mind”, and for instance “sex”. Sexual citizenship should focus on a concept that the government cannot compel or restrict our sex unless it infringes on the rights of others.
Likewise, conscious citizenship should focus on the idea that government should not compel or restrict our control our state of mind. The 18th amendment moved in that direction, but fell woefully short.
If we wish to alter our state of mind, it should not be the government’s business unless it infringes on someone else’s rights.
I have a feeling that until those rights are better defined it will be very hard to achieve psychic tuning.
Currently most psychotropic drugs are highly controlled, if not illegal.
Likewise very few people even grasp what psychotropic tuning would do. The only psychotropic substances they know are coffee and alcohol.
There is an enormous fear of assuming mental ecstatic states where we aren’t in control.